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The Lorax had a grand opening which exceeded anyone’s expectations for the new film. It opened with a grand total of $70,720,485! It was showcased on a multitude of regular and IMAX screens, with the IMAX screens accounting for 8% of the total weekend revenue. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas opened with $55.1 million. In 2003, The Cat in the Hat opened with $38.3 million. In 2008, Horton Hears a Who! opened with $45 million. This film opened on the birthday of Dr. Seuss, who would have turned 108 this year.

The book starts out with a boy encountering a greedy “Once-ler” to find out why the world is in such bad shape. The book is told from the Once-ler’s point of view. The Once-ler told the boy how he had cut down all of the Truffula trees in order to make inventions out of them and sell them for a profit. The orange colored, ecologically conscious Lorax tried to convince the Once-ler not to cut down so many trees. The Once-ler ignores him, and continues to cut the trees down because they are so profitable. Soon, there are no Truffula trees left. The forest is devastated, the Once-ler’s business goes bankrupt, and all of the animals of the forest are forced to leave.

All that’s left is one small Truffula seed, which the Once-ler gives to the boy, so he can go plant it and start a new Truffula forest.

The movie, however, is slightly different from the book. All of the characters are mostly the same, however, the boy, named Ted in the movie, has a love interest. The desire that his love interest wants to see a real tree serves as his main drive in acquiring knowledge about trees, as the city has none left. His grandmother encourages Ted to visit the Once-ler, who lives outside the city walls, to find out more information about trees. The town mayor, Mr. O’Hare, closely watches any move that the boy makes, and discourages him from going outside of the city walls. The Once-ler eventually gives Ted the last Truffula seed to plant within the city walls in remembrance of Nature. The mayor finds out about this and tries to stop Ted from planting the seed. However, Ted takes an earthmover to ram down a section of the city wall, revealing the horrific landscape beyond. The townspeople defy the mayor and agree to let Ted plant the seed.

Has your family seen The Lorax or read the book? Which do you like better, and why?